


Regression

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Prompt Fic, Writer's Month 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26003002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: When B'Elanna Torres and Harry Kim return from an away mission, they are not the same.  Tom Paris isn't sure he can get used to this.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 23
Collections: Whumptober 2020, Writer's Month 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired in part by this [lovely art by Wanda](https://70thousandlightyearsfromhome.tumblr.com/post/173602918978/childrens-day-art-by-wanda-a-talented-japanese).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's Month 2020, Day 19. The prompt is "de-aging."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Tom was worried. He always worried when Harry or B'Elanna was on an away mission. With both of them gone, he was twice as worried. And now they were late to the rendezvous point, and he was _really_ worried.

"We should go looking for them," he suggested, turning around to face the captain.

"We'll give them a few more minutes." She appeared calm, but Tom sensed she was on edge as well. "Anything on sensors, Mr. Ayala?"

"No, Captain," Ayala said from Harry's station at Ops. "I have the range at maximum, but…wait, I think I'm picking up something."

"Is it our missing shuttle?" Janeway asked.

"It looks like it could be," Ayala replied. "It is. We're being hailed."

Relieved, Tom turned back to the main viewscreen. "It's about time," he said. "What took you so…" His voice trailed off as the transmission solidified. It was a child. A human child, maybe six or seven years old, who appeared to be standing on a chair to reach the controls.

"Sorry we're late, Captain," the boy said. "We ran into a little trouble."

"Emphasis on little," another voice said, and a young girl's head popped over the edge of the console. She was perhaps ten years old, and there were Klingon ridges on her forehead. "Can you tractor us in? Neither of us is tall enough to reach both the console and the pedals. We're managing, but it would be a lot easier if you guided us into the hangar."

"B'Elanna? Harry?" Janeway said, shocked.

It was.

Harry and B'Elanna were beamed directly to sickbay as soon as the shuttle bay doors closed. Janeway immediately went down to see them. "Tom, you're with me. Chakotay, you have the con."

Tuvok followed them into the turbolift, without being ordered or asking permission. It was his perogative, as Chief of Security and Janeway's best friend. "Captain," he said as the doors shut, "They may not be who they claim."

"I'm aware of that, Tuvok." She looked at Tom. "You know both Harry and B'Elanna well. Help us make sure it's really them."

"Yes, Captain. Though if they're hostile, why appear as children?"

"Perhaps because children are seen as unthreatening," Tuvok said. "It may be a way to get past our defenses."

"We'd be a lot less suspicious if they were the same age they were when they left," Tom said. But that was his thinking; aliens thought in alien ways. Tuvok could be right. He tried not to dwell on what it would mean for the real Harry and B'Elanna, if these two were imposters.

The children were sitting next to each other on a biobed, dressed in patient gowns. "Well, Doctor," Janeway said as she strode in. "Is it really them?"

"So far as I can determine, yes. Their DNA matches the DNA on record for Lt. Torres and Ensign Kim. It's just…younger." He pointed to a large specimen container on the next bed. "The clothing they were wearing is in that box. They appear to be uniforms that were replicated on _Voyager_ , in sizes to fit Lt. Torres and Ensign Kim. At least, the sizes that used to fit them. The combadges appear to be those issued to Lt. Torres and Ensign Kim."

"Harry…B'Elanna…what happened?" Janeway asked.

"We detected what appeared to be an artificial structure on a large asteroid," the girl said. "We flew in close to scan it, and apparently whoever was there didn't like it. We were hit by some kind of alien weapon. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up…my uniform was suddenly way too big for me."

"That's how I remember it, too," the boy said. "We didn't want a fight, and we couldn't win one when neither of us could reach the controls, so we hightailed it out of there on autopilot."

Tom watched them closely as they spoke. They sure looked like Harry and B'Elanna might have looked as children. The boy had a sleek cap of black hair, a familiar smile, and Harry's habit of licking his lips when he was uncertain. The girl had wavy brown hair, ridges that suggested she had part, but not full, Klingon ancestry, and the same cute mole on the her right cheek B'Elanna had. Remembering the assignment the captain had given him, Tom said, "Harry…can you tell me how we met?" He was pretty sure Harry had never told anyone the story, because he found it embarrassing.

Sure enough, the boy flushed. "Do I have to? I guess I do. It was in Quark's Bar, on Deep Space Nine."

"And…?" Tom prompted.

"A Ferengi was trying to scam me, and you stopped him." The boy scowled at the memory.

"Are you going to test me, too?" the girl asked, grinning wickedly. "I can tell you what we did last night."

Tom gaped, speechless, and blushed hotly.

"No, no," the boy said. "I'm too young to hear this!"

Oh, god. It really was them. What were they doing to do?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for Whumptober prompt #23, "Exhaustion" and "Sleep Deprivation."

They gathered in the briefing room. Harry and B'Elanna had been issued uniforms that fit their new sizes. Which were, Tom had to admit, ridiculously cute. He decided against offering Harry a booster seat. He could see over the edge of the table. Barely.

"There is a record of something similar happening on board the _USS Enterprise_ ," Captain Janeway said. "Doctor, would their solution work in this case?"

"So far as I can determine, no." The Doctor was down in sickbay, attending the briefing via the viewscreen, as usual. "In that case, the problem was a defect in the transporter. Dr. Crusher used the transporter to repair the damage done. In this case, the transporter is not involved."

"Could we use the transporter anyway?" Janeway asked.

"Possibly, but there would be serious ethical implications. It has been weeks since Ensign Kim and Lt. Torres have been transported. If we re-imposed those patterns on them now, they would be missing several week's memories. In my professional opinion, it would be the equivalent of killing them and replacing them."

Harry and B'Elanna looked at each other. Would they be willing to "die" to go back to being their old selves?

"We'll consider it as a last resort," Janeway said. "Make sure their most recent transporter patterns are preserved, just in case. Any other suggestions?"

"A Borg maturation chamber could return them to their previous ages," Seven said. "It would take several years, but it would be much faster than if we waited for them to reach adulthood naturally."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with leaving them in a maturation chamber for years, assuming we could get one."

"The technology in the Doctor's mobile emitter was able to speed up the process to just a few hours. Perhaps we could attempt to duplicate that."

"A long shot, and getting a maturation chamber would be difficult. I'll keep it under advisement. Other suggestions?"

Tuvok spoke. "Captain. They appear to be healthy, and unlike the incident with the _Enterprise_ , they will mature naturally. It may be decades before we reach the Alpha Quadrant. The crew has decided against becoming a generation ship, for many logical reasons. What has happened to Ensign Kim and Lt. Torres may add many years to their lifespans. This could be most beneficial to _Voyager_."

"You think we should leave them as they are?"

"No!" Tom protested. He knew his reaction was pure selfishness, but he couldn't stop himself.

The captain turned to Harry and B'Elanna. "What do you two want?"

"I want to be grown up again," Harry said instantly. B'Elanna nodded emphatically.

"All right," Janeway said. "Doctor, try to find a solution. Tuvok…work out a defense against this weapon. Our best option may be to contact the people who created this weapon, but we have to make sure what happened to Harry and B'Elanna doesn't happen to the rest of us."

* * *

Harry and B'Elanna tried to maintain their usual lives. It didn't work. Tom realized that when Lt. Carey called him to come get them.

They had fallen sleep by a Jefferies tube. That had happened once or twice before, but not at 1900 hours. At least, Tom assumed they were sleeping. He decided to take them to sickbay, just in case. He picked up Harry, and let Joe take B'Elanna.

"Just asleep," the Doctor said, scanning them. "However…"

"What?"

"What time did their shifts start?"

"0800 hours, I assume." That was the usual time alpha shift started.

"Were they working double shifts? What about yesterday?"

Tom shrugged. He didn't know, but he wouldn't be surprised. They were both workaholics, and a lot of people were working double shifts, to upgrade _Voyager_ 's defenses as fast as possible.

"I'm going to have to put a stop to this," the Doctor said. "Sickbay to Captain Janeway."

"Janeway here."

"Could you come down to sickbay, Captain? There's something I need to discuss with you."

_Put a stop to what?_ Tom wondered.

He found out soon enough. As soon as Janeway entered sickbay, the Doctor pointed to Harry and B'Elanna, still asleep on their biobeds. "This is child labor. It's been outlawed for hundreds of years, and for good reason."

"What happened?"

"They have not been getting the sleep their growing bodies require. And it appears they skipped dinner tonight, as well. This cannot continue."

"I see."

"But they're not really children," Tom said. "They're the two best engineers on board. We need them."

"Their bodies are children's bodies, and have the requirements of children," the Doctor said. "They should be relieved of duty."

"If it turns out their age regression can't be fixed, it's in everyone's interest to make sure they grow up healthy," Janeway said. "However, Tom's right. We need their skills. Maybe if we made sure they never worked double shifts?"

Eventually, they reached a compromise. Harry and B'Elanna could share one shift between them. And they would have a "babysitter," to make sure they got enough sleep and ate regularly. According to the Doctor, though they retained their adult memories, their brains lacked the judgement and maturity of adults.

"You want to do that, Tom?" Janeway asked. "You are the closest to both of them."

"Captain," the Doctor said. "I don't recommend that."

"Why not?"

"Human children imprint on the people who are around them. They will not be sexually attracted to those people when they grow up. It seems to have evolved to prevent inbreeding. I am uncertain if this applies to B'Elanna, given her mixed heritage, however…"

"You mean if Tom spends too much time around her now, she will never be attracted to him when she's an adult."

"It's a possibility."

Tom opened his mouth, and found he didn't have any words. Obviously, he and B'Elanna could not be lovers now, but he didn't want to close off the possibility forever. He desperately hoped they would be able to return her to her proper age.

"All right," the captain said. "Tom, you're in charge of Harry. I'll put someone else in charge of B'Elanna. Seven, perhaps. She already spends a lot of time with Naomi."

"Not Seven," Tom said. B'Elanna would not be happy at having a minder, and if it was Seven…he didn't even want to think about it.

"Neelix?"

"That would be better."

"It's settled, then. Take Harry to bed. I'll call Neelix to get B'Elanna."

* * *

"Lights," Tom said as he entered Harry's quarters. Harry, sleeping in his arms, woke up.

"Tom? Hey, put me down. I'm not a kid."

Tom did set Harry down, but said, "I'm afraid you are, Har."

"What happened?"

"You and B'Elanna fell asleep three hours into your second shifts."

"Oh. Sorry."

"The captain and the Doctor have decided that you and B'Elanna can no longer work double shifts. Or even single shifts. You're children."

"I'm not a child, I just look like one."

"Harry…like it or not, your body has a child's needs. For your own health, you can't work adult shifts."

"So, what, am I supposed to play with Flotter on the holodeck all day?"

"They've agreed that you and B'Elanna can share one shift. So, a half-shift for each of you."

"How am I supposed run Ops in just a half shift a day."

"Umm…Harry, you've been relieved of that position. You haven't done anything wrong, it's just not a part-time position. Ayala will be Chief of Ops…" Tom almost said "until you grow up," but caught himself, and finished, "until you recover."

"Great. Just great."

Harry looked crushed. Tom was very grateful that he wasn't the one who had to tell B'Elanna that Carey would be taking over as Chief of Engineering. He had a feeling her reaction would be a good deal more violent than Harry's. "It's for your own good."

"My own good is working as hard as possible to get this reversed."

"I know, Harry, I know." Tom sat at Harry's table, and tried to change the subject. "Are you hungry? The Doctor said your blood sugar readings looked like you hadn't eaten awhile."

Harry scowled. "I'll decide if I'm hungry and if I want to eat." He stomped off the sleeping area.

Tom sighed. It occurred to him that Harry probably was hungry, but wouldn't admit it as long as Tom was here. He went back to his own quarters. Maybe Harry would eat if Tom wasn't there to see.


End file.
